Yellowstone National Park, the world's oldest park, is a massive protected ecosystem in the Middle Rocky Mountains of the United States, mostly in Wyoming with small portions in Montana and Idaho. While famous for large animals like grizzly bears and elk, the park also harbors a few amphibians--including two frog species--though information about their viability is scarce.

Background

Four amphibians are known to inhabit Yellowstone: the blotched tiger salamander, the boreal toad, the Columbia spotted frog and the boreal chorus frog. The park's altitude, severe climate and glacial heritage are thought to be the primary reasons for this low diversity.

Columbia Spotted Frog

Spotted frog tadpoles feed mainly on plant material. Adults are more opportunistic, feasting on insects, worms, mollusks and other invertebrates, and possibly other amphibians.

Boreal Chorus Frog

The diet of the boreal chorus frog also shifts generally from aquatic plants as tadpoles to insects as adults. The Montana Field Guide specifically lists such adult fare as spiders, beetles and ants.

Foraging Strategies

Columbia spotted frog juveniles may seek prey farther from water than adults. Most feeding occurs in the riparian zone fringing wetlands.

Population

There is concern that Yellowstone's frogs--and the rest of its amphibians--are declining due to climate change, which may be drying up crucial wetlands.

Source:

Yellowstone's Amphibians (National Park Service)

Rana luteiventris (U.S. Forest Service)

Boreal Chorus Frog (NPS)

Resource:

Boreal Chorus Frog (Montana Field Guide)

Global Warming and Frogs (ScienceDaily)

Columbia Spotted Frog (Montana Field Guide)